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"Well, if you would help yourself, just this once," Lissa shot back. "Do we need to call Mom? She could help."
"Jesus Christ. No. Don't call Mom," he groaned.
"I'm calling her," Angie declared, scrolling through her phone.
"I just... no. We need to get out of here," he declared, moving toward me, grabbing my good arm, pulling me out toward the door.
I highly suspected his sister was full of shit, but he was believing it nonetheless.
"Wait. My dog..."
"Rey," he called back into the room. "You got the dog, right?" he asked, waiting for the small blonde woman to give him a nod before dragging me all the way outside.
"Stop pulling me," I demanded, trying to yank my arm free. "It's cold out here. Whatever meltdown you are going to have, you can do it inside."
"It's fifty degrees," he shot back, giving me a smirk.
"Yes, well. My blood is all thin from being in a warm climate my whole life."
"That doesn't actually happen."
"Of course I know that doesn't actually happen. Who works in the medical field here, you or me?"
"Come on," he said, leading me over toward a SUV parked at the side of the building. "Better?" he asked, turning it on as we got in, flicking on the heat.
"Oh, is that a butt warmer? Put that on. I've always wanted to try one. If my POS ever succumbs to its inevitable death, I promised myself to get a car with a butt warmer."
"In Florida?"
"It gets chilly!" I insisted. Though, admittedly, my idea of chilly was likely out of skew with the rest of the world. "Anyway," I said, trying to get back on topic.
"I shouldn't have left like that," he told me, gaze forward, tone more serious than I had ever heard it. "I don't really have a good excuse. I just didn't want to say goodbye," he admitted.
"McCoy said he thinks you felt guilty about my arm."
"Yeah. There's that," he agreed, still refusing eye contact.
"Don't you think that, even if you never came down, they would have used me against Huck anyway? I was an easy target."
"Think you proved that you're not," he countered.
"No, but they didn't know that. Let's face it, no matter what way you look at this, I was in danger. Because of you. Because of Huck. Because of all the other guys. And I know you guys like to pound your chests and think you can always protect the girl. But that's not really the case, is it?"
"I could have. If I had been on my game. Or around my people. I could have protected you."
"Yes, well. Things were different. The threat level down there is just, you know, higher. That's why half your club is there now, trying to track down some Ukrainian guys."
"If you were up here, we'd have shipped you over to Hailstorm with the rest of the women and kids, keeping you locked down until shit was safe."
"Right. Because I seem like the kind of woman who would just... be kept away like a piece of fine China."
"You wouldn't have a choice. They have electric fences and dogs and guys with guns."
"And those women in there, they are okay with being locked up like that?"
"They probably kicked and screamed a bit before the kids. After them, well, they wanted to keep them safe too."
"That makes sense. Anyway. It's not your fault. And I'm fine. Well, not fine."
"What's wrong?" he asked, gaze shooting to me, eyes roaming.
"My hand hurts, you jackass. My pills weren't exactly prescribed to me. So I couldn't travel with them. And I haven't gotten back to the doctor yet. So, it hurts."
"I can find you something. Someone is always getting hurt around here. I can scrounge something up."
"Good. And I want ice cream," I added, giving him a nod.
"We got some."
"And pizza."
"We can order."
"And my back rub."
"That can be arranged," he agreed, smile going sweet, eyes going soft.
"And I want you to stop being a chickenshit and tell me you love me again."
"Auggie—"
"But," I cut him off, "only if you mean it."
His gaze slid down to my cast, holding there for a long moment, long enough that my chest felt tight for different reasons. Not so happy reasons.
But then his eyes found mine once again.
"I love you. You're a royal pain in the ass. But I love you."
"That might be the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me," I teased, even as my heart did the swelling thing again.
"You love me too?" he asked, and there was a hint of vulnerability there.
I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
"I do," I admitted.
"So now what?" he asked, reaching over to place his hand over mine.
"So... now we figure this shit out."EPILOGUEWest - 2 daysYeah, we had to figure shit out.
But, you know, not right away.
There was other, more fun shit, to focus on than deep, soulful conversations about the future and our goals and dreams and plans.
